Pakistan and Iran are expected to reach an agreement regarding the proposed 1,500 kilometer-long India-Iran gas pipeline project during the upcoming visit of Pakistani Military leader Pervez Musharraf to Tehran.

Pakistan would receive $ 600-700 million per year for providing transit service for the pipeline from Iran to India passing through its territory, the Hindustan times reported.

Local newspapers report that Musharraf will convey his nation's formal consent to Iranian authorities over the tripartite gas pipeline project during his visit to Tehran in connection with the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit. Musharraf is also expected to meet Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, with the gas pipeline project to be a foremost point of discussion.

Talks on the massive pipeline date back to the early 1990s when Iran found large quantities of oil and gas and Tehran decided to export it to Pakistan and India. Security concerns by Pakistan over allowing the usage of its territory for natural gas supply to India delayed the project's progression.

Pakistan, with its enriched and with huge oil, gas and minerals reserves, currently has 23 world-renowned companies engaged in such projects on its soil.